Not Guilty
by klrob
Summary: Rachel Roth and Richard Grayson, divorced. Two kids. One accusation that destroys life as they know it. AU, Rachel-centric. I don't own Teen Titans, but I own Spencer and Cory. Rated T for slight language and implied sex between Rachel and Richard.


Summary: Rachel Roth and Richard Grayson have given up crime fighting (for the most part). They now have two kids from their marriage, but they were divorced. They decided to try again when their oldest son, Spencer, has gotten his mother into some trouble. How will this end? AU, but similar events happened prior.

A/N: So I know I shouldn't be starting another story, but I am. The _intention_ for this is to be a one-shot, but I'm basing it off of another story that I've been working on. So, go ahead and read on if you dare. It gets a little choppy, so beware of that too.

Disclaimer: Disclaimer, meaning to disclaim something. As of right now, I'm disclaiming my rights to actually have any slight chance of owning the Teen Titans… and now I want to cry.

Here we are!

Rachel Roth was sitting at home, watching her youngest daughter, Cory, when the phone call came. The number on the caller ID was a random number, one from the hospital…

"Hello?"

_"…Mrs. Grayson?" _Rachel ignored the mistake of her former (and possibly future…) surname and responded, urgency slowly leaking into her tone. "Yes?"

_"We have your son, Spencer, here in the hospital…" _Her breath caught in her throat, the room spinning around her. She slowly tuned out of the voice speaking on the phone, her mind automatically going over what might've happened. She heard her name being repeated and she remembered she was still on the phone.

"What," she cleared her throat, "What did you say he was brought in for?"

_"He stabbed himself with a pair of scissors fairly deep, and was obviously traumatized."_

"He **stabbed** himself? What five-year-old stabs himself?"

_"We were hoping you could answer that for us. We need confirmation from a parent or guardian to begin surgery-"_

"Surgery? I thought…"

_"It's just that the scissors are fairly deep, and we need to remove them as soon as possible before he loses anymore blood."_

"Okay, I'll be right down. You said it was Jantuket General?"(1)

_"Yes, ma'am."_

"Thank you." She clicked the phone off and began dialing her neighbor.

_"Hello?"_

"Mrs. Betrution?"

_"Hello, Rachel."_

"Do you think you could come over and watch Cory? Spencer's in the hospital and I need to go get him…"

_"Of course, darling. I'll be over in a couple minutes. Need to find my shoes, of course. See you in a few… hehe. Did you notice that? My little rhyme there?"_

Rachel smirked at her elderly neighbor's naïve pun. "Yes, Mrs. Betrution. That was cute."

_"Well, I'm going to hang up the phone now so I can find my shoes. I'll see you soon."_

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Betrution." She clicked the phone off and ran upstairs to put on a pair of jeans to replace her sweatpants. She kissed her daughter on the forehead, but Cory continued to stare at the TV screen, unfazed. She then returned back downstairs for her jacket and opened the door when the bell rang.

"Hello, dearie. You go rush to the hospital while I take care of the little Crow."

"I don't know how I could thank you, Mrs. Betrution."

"Just go make sure that little Spencer is alright." Rachel smiled at the elderly woman and quickly shoved her feet into some boots. She ran out the door with her car keys in hand and turned the car on.

Rachel began to weave around the traffic, trying to quickly figure out the quickest way to get to the hospital. After what seemed like forever, she parked in the hospital's parking lot and ran inside the building. She ran up to the front desk and asked the receptionist where her son currently was. After finally coaxing it out of the stubborn woman, she jogged up the stairs, the elevator too slow for her liking.

She crashed through the door and saw her son's pale tiny body against the white bed sheets. She smiled, knowing he was at least still alive and fairly well. The doctor came into the room soon after she sat down at his side and gave her the consent forms for surgery. She signed them, quickly glancing over the technicalities and sighed.

"Mrs. Grayson-"

"Roth. It's Roth now. His father and I got divorced a year ago." The doctor looked at her funny. "Okay."

She slightly cocked her head in question, but turned to her son when she heard him yawning. She quickly moved towards him and smiled. He opened his big, amethyst eyes to her and smiled. "Hi, mommy…"

"Hi, baby. How ya feeling?"

"I'm okay. My arm hurts a little." She gave him a sad smile.

"Mrs. Roth. May I see you outside?" Rachel turned her head towards the doctor and nodded. She looked back towards her son, his eyebrows now furrowing together. "I'll be right back, sweetie. Don't worry." Spencer nodded and smiled for his mother.

She got up from her seat and followed the doctor outside the room.

"We think you're son has had something horrible happened to him, he just won't talk about it. He didn't want to go home today, so from his teacher, we heard he stabbed himself. Is there anything going on that might make him react in such a violent way?"

Rachel shrugged her shoulders and thought. "No…I mean, it's me and his sister. His father comes every couple days… Although he hasn't been over since Tuesday."

"Is there a chance that it has something to do with his mother or his sister?"

"No, of course not. Cory… she keeps to herself most of the time. She's just shy."

"Well, is there a chance then that it's you he's having a problem with?" Rachel's heart just about stopped. "I'm not implying anything, Mrs. Roth, it's just… is there anything else he could be affected by?"

"No. Nothing at all."

"Maybe you've been doing something to him… I mean, you said that you've been divorced for a while. Maybe you need to someone for a release or-"

"No! I could…. I could never do that to anyone! Besides, I mean… I- I've been seeing his father again. We've been trying to give it another try, but I could **never** do anything like **that** to him. I love my children."

"I'm not saying you don't, Mrs. Roth-"

"Well, obviously you are, since you're implying that I-that I could've **raped** him or something!"

"We're just exploring all the options."

"Well don't explore that one!" Rachel opened the door and moved back to her son's side. He had fallen asleep during their talk, when the doctor had begun talking again.

"We want to keep him here overnight, but we don't want you to stay here with him. We just want to see what happens if you're not here during the night, monitor what happens."

"You can't do that. Nothing will happen. I mean… He's not allowed to stay here without an adult, can he?"

"We'll get a woman from child services to-"

"Child services," Rachel was now hissing at the stupid woman. "You think I seriously did this so that child services has to get involved."

"I'm sorry, ma'am. But you will have to leave now; it's just about past visiting hours." Rachel tensed, and looked back towards her son. She kissed him on the forehead and silently stalked out of the hospital.

_**PAGE BREAK**_

Richard Grayson let himself into his girlfriend's house, knowing he as just in time to tuck Spencer and Cory in bed, and maybe fool around with Rachel afterwards. The lights were blazing in the living room and he could barely hear the television. He walked into there after discarding his jacket on the coat rack. He saw Rachel hugging her knees, blankly staring at the TV.

"Rachel." She turned her head towards the sound of his voice, and he looked into her dead eyes. "Rachel, honey, are you okay?"

"No. And neither is Spencer." Her voice came out raspy and Richard panicked.

"What's wrong with Spencer?"

"He stabbed himself. He's in the hospital." Richard's eyes widened. "What? Well, why aren't we at the hospital? Why didn't you call me?"

"They won't let us see him, mostly me. They think I…" Her eyes found the ground again.

"They think you what, Rae?"

"They think I… raped him…" Rachel glanced up at Richard, and saw his shocked expression. "What… what do you mean they think you raped him?"

"He told them he didn't want to go home… and now they think I raped him…because I'm the only real possibility…"

"But… you could never do that, right?" Rachel's eyes hardened. "Of course I couldn't do that! Especially since I'm a rape **child.**" Richard winced away from her gaze, temporarily forgetting about that factor of her life.

"Sorry." Tears slowly began dripping down her face and he wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…" After a couple minutes of crying in his safe arms (not to mention deliciously muscled…), she abruptly sat up.

"I'm sorry. For going all emotional on you. I mean, Cory is still upstairs, washing up for bed. I need to go tell her its time…:

"Don't worry about that, I'll do it." Rachel sniffed and giggled at him.

"No offense, but you suck at telling stories." Richard smirked and stood up, placing a light kiss on her lips. "She'll have to work with what she's got." He tucked a flyaway strand of her hair behind her ear before he walked up the stairs. After a couple minutes, he came back down the stairs, a blanket in hand.

"You're probably going to wanna sleep down here, so I brought you a blanket-"He quickly shut up when he felt her lips over hers. He kissed her back easily, and they both fell back on the couch, her on the bottom. She began to unbutton his shirt, whispering in his ear, "Are you going to tell me a bedtime story first?"

_**PAGE BREAK**_

A morning light shone through the windows, hitting Richard squarely in the face. He woke up out of his sound sleep, and found his arms wrapped around his girlfriend's bare middle. He nuzzled the back of her neck and felt her smile before she rolled on the couch, turning them so she was face-to-face with him. She slowly opened her eyes as cerulean met amethyst.

He lightly kissed her and pulled the blanket off of them, allowing their nudity to embrace the world. He saw her lightly blushed and he grabbed his shirt off the floor and quietly handed it to her. He found his boxers and pulled those on as well. They slowly gathered their clothes and were about to go up the stairs when the phone began to ring. Rachel dropped everything that was in her arms and ran towards the phone, slightly falling.

She pushed her hair out of her face and answered it, slightly breathless. "H-hello?"

_"Mrs. Roth?'_

"Yes."

_"This is Doctor Marfinch, I'm the physician currently taking care of your son. It seems like he's doing much better right now."_

"That's great. When will I be able to see him?" The next words the doctor spoke broke Rachel's heart.

_"I'm sorry to inform you that the hospital will be following up on suing you for statutory rape and child abuse. It seems Spencer had called out for you in the middle of the night, in a manner of you always being there." _The phone began to slip out of her hand, but Richard made it over in time to catch it before it hit the ground.

"Hello, this is Richard Grayson."

_"Hello, Mr. Grayson. Are you young Spencer's father?"_

"Yes, I am, Doctor…"

_"Marfinch. Amelia Marfinch. The hospital is currently bringing a case against your… ex-wife for statutory rape and child abuse."_

"Are you serious?"

_"Yes, I am. I'm incredibly sorry for this, as well."_

"Thank you, Doctor Marfinch." He hung up the phone and turned toward Rachel, who was slumped on the floor, crying. Richard gathered her up in his arms and carried her, bridal style, into her room. He carefully set her on the bed and sat down behind her. He began rubbing her back in a comforting way, whispering in her ear.

_**PAGE BREAK**_

It had been one month of pain. Rachel was sitting in the courtroom next to her shark of a lawyer, waiting for the verdict. The hospital had indeed carried out their lawsuit and seemed as though they were winning. They had called up Cory to the stand, which did nothing to help her.

_Flashback:_

_ "Hi, Cory. My name's Naomi, and I'm going to ask you some questions about your mommy. Is that alright?" The young girl nodded quietly._

_ "So, is your mommy in the room?"_

_ Cory pointed at her mother, confident that she could answer. _

_ "Does your mommy ever touch you?"_

_ "She gives me huge hugs and kisses me and tucks me in and picks me up."_

_ "Does your mommy ever touch your brother?"_

_ "She does the same thing to him. Sometimes, she goes into his room at night when he's crying."_

_ "Thank you. No further questions."_

_End Flashback._

Richard had gone up on the stand as well, but couldn't do anything to help exonerate her either. Rachel had pleaded not guilty, and she knew that she wasn't. Today was the big judgment day, where she could go to prison and never see her kids ever again. If that happened to her, she knew she would absolutely die from not being able to hold her kids ever again. And Richard… what would she do without him?

The judge sat there and cleared her throat. Rachel could feel herself about to hyperventilate. She felt Richard place a comforting hand on her back. He was behind the bar, but he could easily reach over it to try and help her the best that he could.

"….We find the defendant… not guilty." Those words were the beginning of her life. Those were two of her favorite new words. 'Not guilty.'

The judge cleared her throat and interjected the foreperson. "Although the defendant is not guilty, I do wish to make sure that something like this never happens again. The defendant will stay at least 100 feet away from Spencer John Grayson and Corinne Arella Grayson. Court adjourned." With that, the judge banged her gavel and stood up. Those words would be her new life, though. 100 feet. She… she wouldn't see her kids ever again. Never again.

_**PAGE BREAK: 10 Years Later**_

It has been 10 years. 10 years since Rachel Roth had seen her kids. She was currently living in Australia, a nice house near the beach. She was a known animal caretaker at a local zoo. Her life seemed decent, except she wouldn't be able to see her kids or the man she has been in love with since… forever.

Thank every possible God that he called her every week and sent monthly pictures of the kids. She needed to hear about them, even if she couldn't talk to them. The phone sex wasn't too bad either…

Her cell phone began to ring and their phone number popped up.

"Hello?"

_"Hey, Rae." _She smirked at his stupid joke. _"How are you?"_

"I'm fine. How are you and the kids?"

_"(laughter) We're all fine. I just wanted to call you and tell you about Spencer. He got elected as his class president yesterday." _Rachel smiled.

"Really? That's amazing. Does he like it?"

_"Yeah, I think he-" "Hey, Dad. Who are you talking to?" "Oh, no one, Spence."_

_ "Why are you so secretive about it? Is it Mom or something? (laughter)_

_ "(nervous chuckling) No, of course not."_

_ 'Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if she were dead or something. Actually, I really wouldn't mind it either._

_"Spencer, of course you would care!"_

_ "No, I wouldn't! I mean, so what if she did or didn't rape me, but if she was a good mom, then she would've tried to come see Cory and I all the time. She wouldn't have let the law get in the way."_

_ "(sighing) Spencer, your mother loves you so much, and you know that."_

_ "Whatever." _Richard glanced back at the phone and saw it was still connected to Rachel. He grabbed it quickly and began talking. "Rachel? Rachel? Hello? Rachel?"

He heard a sniff, then a dial tone. H began dialing her number again, and got voicemail. He tried again, voicemail, tried again, voicemail. He sighed. He followed Spencer up the stairs and barged into his room.

"Dad, what the hell? Can't you knock?"

"Listen, young man, you cannot wish your mother was dead or injured or whatever. She loves you so much, and she deserves your respect, even if you don't want to give it to her."

"Dad, you're talking about her like you've talked to her recently. Have you? Was that really who was on the phone?"

"Yes, it was. And I think she heard you when you said you wanted her dead. Now I can't get in touch with her, and I'm afraid she might try and kill herself. She hasn't been the most stable person in the world, but I know she loves you so much. I also know when she couldn't see you, she tried to kill herself. Twice since then. And now, I'm afraid she's going to try again."

"Well, what are we still doing here? If you've been calling her, I bet you know where she lives, so we can go to her house and try and stop her or something." Spencer was so worried about his mom now; he never meant any of those.

"Fine. Go grab your sister."

"Got it."

_**PAGE BREAK**_

__Richard ran into the hotel, his kids close by in hot pursuit. Rachel's house just had to be under quarantine, so she moved into the hotel about a half hour away. They had finally coaxed her suite number out of the hotel manager and they sprinted up the stairs to her room. 625…626…627…628…628! That was it! They all crashed into each other and Richard finally stood up and knocked on the door. He sighed in relief as he heard the locks quietly clicking out of place and the door opening. His eyes met hers and there was definitely a question in hers.

"…Richard?"

"Rachel…" He sighed as she opened the door and he pushed inside. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. He noticed her staring at the two kids in front of the door. She slowly let go of him and moved towards them. "Spencer… Cory?"

The two kids nodded at her and ran into her arms. Everyone was now crying and she kissed the two kids on the forehead. Their family was complete.

_**Two Hours Later…**_

__"So, I should go get us a room downstairs…"

"No, you guys can stay here. I just need to, uh, go get an air mattress. I don't think anyone wants to sleep on the lumpy couch or the floor…" She grabbed her car keys off the small desk and turned back towards them to smile. "I'll be right back." And she walked out the door, searching for an air mattress.

_**PAGE BREAK**_

__Someone was screaming. Who the hell was screaming? Richard peeked out from underneath the pillow and found he was still fully dressed. He looked towards the source of the screaming and saw a petite, blonde woman. "Who are you guys?"

"Funny, I was just about to ask you the same thing."

"I'm one of Rachel's best friends. We both work at the zoo and we're both from Colorado. Azarath was a couple miles from my home town.(2) Now who are **you?**"

"I'm Richard Grayson and these are my kids Spencer and Cory. Rachel's my… ex-wife. Cory and Spencer are her kids."

"You guys been here all night?"

"Yeah. Where's Rachel?"

"You haven't heard…"

"Heard what? Where's our mom," interjected Spencer.

"Mr. Grayson, can I talk to you in the bathroom…?"

"Sure." Together the two walked into the bathroom. As soon as the door closed, Richard began interrogating the woman.

"Where's Rachel?"

"Rachel… she was in a car accident last night. Some idiot crashed into her in the middle of an intersection. I think I didn't get any sleep last night, I was so upset. She was dead on impact." Richard stood there silent before finally speaking.

"She tried to kill herself three times, and that never worked. She finally gets her family back, and she dies from some stupid car accident?"

"I know it's so messed up… I'm really going to miss her. She was one of the only people who were actually nice to me here."

Richard opened the door and walked out into the room. He saw Spencer and Cory watching TV. Spencer noticed him first and tried talking to his dad through his eyes.

"Where's mom?"

"…Spencer, Cory. Rachel's gone."

_**STORY END**_

A/N: One-shot. Had the idea from a story. Blah blah blah. You probably know the drill, review, review, review. Mostly because they make me smile. I just love 'em. Flames… I don't really care for them, but if you have to, go ahead. Tell me how horrible Raven and Robin are together, how horrible the story is, whatever. I really don't care, since they really are perfect for each other.

Don't know if it's real, just made it up.

Now I know Azarath isn't a real place in Colorado, but it's fiction. Imagine.

Now… REVIEW. Otherwise, 8 pages. Wasted.

~klrob


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